Hate To Love You

“No.” Her smile was shaky. “It’s fine. I—”

She cut off as Gage suddenly showed up. He rounded the post, an irritated scowl on his face. “Where’s the pop—” He saw Casey, and the words stopped. “Oh.” A transformation came over him. Annoyed Gage disappeared and instead soft Gage—the one who would blow on my cuts so the antibacterial ointment wouldn’t sting so badly—showed up. Technically, my injuries weren’t ever his fault, but it hadn’t mattered. My big brother took care of me. That was the guy standing in front of us. He ran a hand through his hair, saying to Casey, “I didn’t see you there.” He glanced to me, an unspoken question of what he should do.

Casey stuck her hand out, a determined look on her face.

“It’s nice to meet you, in an official capacity.” Her eyes flicked to me and back. “I had no clue Kennedy had a brother, or that you were her brother.”

“Yeah.” He put his hand in hers, treating it as if it were made of glass. “That’s my sister, proud to be related to me.”

I shot him a look.

He ignored me.

Her mouth firmed, and she pumped his hand in one forceful motion. “It feels wrong. We’ve partied together, and I didn’t know the real you.” She was forcing a cheerful tone in her voice.

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat.

Gage may have sounded uncomfortable, but he wasn’t. His eyes had softened, a tenderness leaked from his voice, and if he could’ve floated forward on a magic carpet and taken her in his arms, he’d already be singing “A Whole New World.”

Casey tucked some invisible strands of her hair behind her ear. They weren’t loose. Her two braids were tight, but she was still making sure they were nice and secure. Her cheeks were blossoming with a nice, soft shade of pink, and I was about to vomit.

It was love behind the football post, not love at first sight.

“You two are obviously interested in each other.”

Gage shot me a look, hissing, “Kenz!”

Casey laughed, glancing to the ground for a second. “It’s fine.” Another impish smile tugged at her lips. “I mean, you know. Obviously. Duh. That’s why I’m even talking to Kennedy.”

“Thanks.”

She touched my hand, as if to say she was sorry, but her eyes were all for Gage. I was clueing back to the realization that this was how most girls looked at my brother.

Gage was puffing his chest out, as if he were a goddamn knight in shining armor.

I lifted the half-empty popcorn container. “Whoa. Look at that.” My acting skills sucked, but I was committed. “I have no clue how that happened. I’ll be going to refill this. And, um—”

“Okay. Yeah.” Gage touched my arm and nudged me out of the way. He stepped closer to Casey, and they were gone after that.

I could’ve done jumping jacks naked and gotten arrested, and I didn’t think they’d notice.

I went back to the concession stands, but I asked a guy if he wanted the rest of my popcorn. His eyes lit up, and it was another rendition of love at first sight, with him and the popcorn. “Hell yes.” He grabbed it before I could change my mind, and I only bought a new soda.

I was returning with it, but there was no sign of Gage or Casey. I spotted them sitting in a corner on our team’s section. Kristina, Sarah, and Laura were on the row in front of them.

I’d been rejected.

By my own brother.

“Loser.”

Wha—

No way.

I rounded, my neck stiff as Becs and Aby approached. They were dressed similar to Casey, in full Dulane University gear. The only differences were that instead of sweatshirts, they were wearing tight, long-sleeved shirts, their hair was up in high ponytails instead of braids, and they both had lots of glitter on their faces.

I asked, “Did you actually just call me that?”

They stopped and shared a confused look. “What?” Becs asked. “Shay told us to greet you like that. We thought it was an inside joke.”

“Shay did?”

She nodded.

Aby, too.

Becs frowned. “It wasn’t this whole thing where we were supposed to call you that, and you’d know immediately it was from Shay, then dissolve in laughter? It wasn’t that sort of thing?”

“No.” But goddamn. It was a good prank. “What do you want?”

Becs barked out, “You’ve grown some more teeth since the abortion discussion.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I had teeth then, too.” I pointed to my mouth, baring them. “See. Razor sharp. Took a bite out of both of you, if I remember correctly.”

Becs said, “Uh. No.”

“Well.” Aby lifted her hand before letting it drop just as quick. “Kinda. Yeah.”

“Whatever.” Becs rolled her eyes. “You weren’t in class on Friday. Shay said he’d tell you, but since you’re here and I’m sure Shay had more important things to deal with, I thought I’d mention it.”

“What?”

“We got assigned our presentation on Friday. We have to do a whole paper and present it later, but I saw Linde last night, and he mentioned maybe starting the research tomorrow.”

“What’s our topic?”

“Social media and how it has affected politics.”

“Oh.” I was surprised. “That actually sounds fun.”

She gave me the once-over. “Yeah. Fun. Sure.”

“We’re starting tomorrow?”

She nodded. “The guys said they have your contact info, but yeah. We’ll meet in the library sometime in the afternoon or evening. I have a ton of other homework to do, too.”

“Okay.” My Sunday was now planned. Sunday Funday.

Someone called out the name Becca, and she waved at them. She said to me, pointing over her shoulder, “My friends are calling. See you tomorrow.”

Aby waved, and I was left with another discovery.

I half-whispered to myself, “Her name isn’t actually Becs?” That made a whole lot more sense.

I started for the opposing team’s section, but realized I wasn’t sitting with Gage anymore. I could sit on my own team’s side, and with that, I rotated swiftly, but stopped again.

Wait.

I came because of Gage.

I didn’t have to watch at all, but halftime ended, and the teams returned from their locker rooms. They ran past me, and I saw Shay in the middle of the pack. His head was bent forward, listening to one of the coaches who was running beside him.

I was conflicted.

I might hate his personality, but I couldn’t deny how good he looked in his football uniform. The shoulder pads. The tight white pants that ended on his calves. And how dark and sweaty his hair was. It stuck up in all the right spots. The black spots under his eyes were smudged, but in a hot way, and I faltered.

Then Linde jogged past, and seeing me, he flashed a blinding smile. “You better be cheering me on, Kennedy Clarke. You hear me? I want to hear you yelling.”

Everyone started to clap as they ran past, and feeling myself smiling, I shifted the soda to the side. I began to clap, and by the time the last of the team was on the field, I was hollering and hooting with the best of them.

I stayed, but only for Linde.

And maybe Shay’s backside.